State Briefs
Western Alaskans seek new jobs
ANCHORAGE - After years of dismally low salmon prices and runs, many commercial fishermen in Western Alaska are ready to leave their jobs, according to a state survey of 1,410 fishermen.
Only 16 percent of those polled said they expect prices and runs to rebound.
The survey was conducted last spring by the state Department of Community and Economic Development.
About 39 percent of the respondents said they were ready to leave commercial fishing. Another 24 percent said they would take other work temporarily until the fishing business improves. Only 11 percent said they did not want to get out of fishing.
The survey was intended to assess interest in job retraining in eight U.S. census areas stretching from the Alaska Peninsula to Bristol Bay to Nome. About 70 percent of respondents said they were open to some kind of training, including fish marketing or other instruction related to their industry.
The state has declared disasters in most of those areas because of lower-than-expected fish returns beginning with the 1997 season. But low salmon prices are attributed mainly to competition from foreign salmon farms.
Last week, Gov. Tony Knowles asked President Bush for federal aid to diversify local economies in the area and help fishermen restructure debt.
Biologists to track Kenai caribou
KENAI - Biologists hope to have a better idea of the range of the various Kenai Peninsula caribou herds after fitting some with data-logging devices linked to satellites.
During the fall caribou count, state Department of Fish and Game and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service researchers captured and tagged 20 adult female caribou in two of the area's five herds.
Rick Ernst, a wildlife biologist for the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, said some of the collars have traditional radio homing transmitters and newer "store onboard" Global Positioning System data collectors. Those devices receive GPS signals from orbiting satellites and record the animals' positions five times a day.
In the past, to locate an animal and log its location, researchers had to zero in on it from the air using the homing beacons. With the GPS system, biologists only have to recapture the animals and retrieve the data.
Alaskan named to census panel
ANCHORAGE - An Anchorage woman was named to the U.S. Census Bureau's advisory committee on American Indian and Alaska Native populations.
Gloria O'Neill, president and chief executive officer of Cook Inlet Tribal Council Inc., will serve on the nine-member committee. She will advise the Census Bureau on ways to get an accurate, complete count of the Alaska Native population in the 2010 census.
She also will advise the bureau on the design of the American Community Survey, which is being tested in some areas of the country and is scheduled to go nationwide in 2003.
Five committees advise the Census Bureau on race and ethnicity. The committees consist of members from the public at large as well as representatives of national, state, local and tribal entities, and nonprofit and private-sector organizations.